What L2 phenomena reveal about phonological cognition

“He sees the world simply, without all your complicated

facts

”

Bert Vaux, UWM NAPhC 4 May 13, 2006

Bill O’Reilly

Overview

 

Focus on comparison of leading theories

(DP : OT)

  What each predicts to be possible and impossible How these predictions compare to the data

Results of comparison

   SLP facts are inconsistent with the predictions of canonical OT and Constraint Demotion algorithms SLP facts support a derivational model driven by generalization formation (rules), a la Kiparsky and Menn 1977 Emergence of UG principles is equally problematic for both OT and DP

Scientific SLA: research questions

theory

Top-down:

what does each theory predict to be possible and impossible?

Bottom-up:

what are the central linguistic phenomena that any theory must account for?

data

Focus on OT. Why?

   

Incorporation of markedness (Eckman 2004)

 TETU/ Hidden rankings (Broselow et al. 1998, 2004, Davidson 2002, Uffmann 2004, etc.)

Explicit learning theory available for exploitation

 CDA/GLA

Strong testable predictions made by

canonical OT (= Kager 1999)

Explanation for cross-linguistic differences previously thought to be arbitrary

 Treatment of θ (Lombardi 2003, Eckman 2004)

OT on SLA



“We assume that second language acquisition involves creation of a new grammar, using the same resources as first language acquisition (though other cognitive strategies may be used as well). One major difference, however, is that

the initial state of second language acquisition is the final state of first language acquisition

” (Pater and Tessier 2005)

   

Predictions of canonical OT

M/F-based learning

  No opacity, derived environment, or avoidance effects that don’t appear in L1 or L2 wouldn’t make sense to spontaneously invoke constraint conjunction, Null Parse, sympathy constraints, etc.

Consistency

  Consistent cross-linguistic treatment of a given phenomenon, e.g. resolution of theta same constraints as characterize natural languages, so *D/_# will always be dealt with via devoicing, etc.

No levels

  no level-based effects, since there are no levels unnatural processes will not be imported into L2, because they are morphologically conditioned (according to Lombardi, Steriade, etc.)

Markedness

    IL effects will result from either hidden UG rankings in L1, or from intermediate degrees of constraint demotion/promotion; NOT from reversion to UG rankings when already superseded by L1 rankings markedness-based changes will conform to universal markedness hierarchy neutralizations will be in direction of unmarked member of opposition Natural/unmarked patterns will be easier to learn

   

Some central SLP phenomena Contra M/F-based learning:

   Nonderived environment blocking Opacity Avoidance

Contra Consistency:

   Optionality and variation Convention vs. automaticity Final devoicing

Contra No levels:

  Level-based interference Unnatural interference

Contra Markedness:

  Cases where IL phenomenon  NL, TL Unnatural patterns not harder to learn

Nonderived Environment Blocking

     Eckman and Iverson 1995 et seqq.:   Suppression of s-palatalization in Korean acq of English Suppression of spirantization in Spanish acq of English Kiparsky and Menn 1987:47—derived environment effect in acq of Greek Polish devoicing and raising with loanwords  snop (not *snup) but pagoda → pagut, toga → tuk Standard OT treatment of NDEB: constraint conjunction (Łubowicz 1999)  Smolensky: only postulate CC as warranted by PLD DEC is problem for:   OT claim that grammars only differ in constraint ranking OT’s rejection of generalizations/rules—DEC in SLA is clearly a generalization kicking in, not a constraint conjunction spontaneously appearing

  

Opacity in SLP

Counterfeeding chain shift substitution

    Cho and Lee 2001, Idsardi 2002 on opacity in Korean acq of English  sin → s j in + thin → sin same is found in L1 (Dinnsen, O’Connor, and Gierut 2001) opaque substitution = contrast maintenance + ordering, not sympathy, turbidity, targeted constraints, etc.

 Smolensky: only postulate constraint conjunction as warranted by PLD Idsardi 2002: “this spontaneous chain shift…does not reflect properties of their original L1 grammar, the target L2 grammar, or of Universal Grammar…only by employing persistent rules can we correctly create the conditions for chain-shift; persistence of constraints and constraint rankings into the L2 does not correctly induce the chain-shifting behavior”

Counterbleeding repairs

 Weinberger 1987:412—Mandarin learners of English who apply final epenthesis before final C-cluster simplification, e.g.  [aenә]

Counterfeeding and counterbleeding in toy L2 acq…

Opacity in toy L2 acq



Vaux, Nevins, Dye, and Keren (ongoing)

 Learners exposed to PLD providing evidence for two generalizations:  V  Ø / _ V  s  š / _ i SATA SATI SATO KOP  KOPI KOPO KOPO How do these interact in absence of evidence for interaction in PLD?

 DES, SO…

Opacity in toy L2 acq

  

Predictions of canonical DP for NES, BASA

 

Possible systems

  {neši, basi, nešo, baso} (CF+CB) [SP >> VD] {neši, baši, neso, baso} (transparent) [VD >> SP] 

Impossible systems

 Any set including [nesi]  {neši, baši, nešo, bašo} (CB) [VD&SP cycl., either order] {neši, baši, nešo, baso}, {neši, baši, neso, bašo}, {neši, basi, neso, baso}, {neši, basi, nešo, bašo}, {neši, basi, neso, bašo}

Predictions of canonical OT

 Nothing with basi (CF), bašo (CB), nešo (CB)

Preliminary results



Opacity in toy L2 acq



Preliminary results

form # of Ss

nešo 1/8, 1/12 basi 8/12

DP predicts?

 

OT predicts?

x x

Avoidance

    speakers sometimes avoid complex L2 configurations even if their L1 has them  Laufer and Eliasson 37, Jordens 1977, Kellerman 1977, 1978, 1986 Celce-Murcia 1977:  child learning English and French simultaneously avoided words containing fricatives in one language by using the word from the other language, e.g. couteau for knife Well-documented in L1 phonological acquisition and disorders also  cleft palate speech, lisp… Standard OT treatment of avoidance: Null Parse  Wrongly predicts phonologically empty output, rather than contentful output that crashes  see Orgun and Sprouse 1999, Nevins and Vaux 2004 for further discussion and exemplification

Optionality and variation



Overview



How animals deal with ambiguity



Variable differential substitution



Implications for generalization formation vs. constraint demotion



Variable repair of *Coda/voi

Ambiguity and animal wug tests

  

Consistency

Lombardi 2003: repair of L2 {θ, ð} predictable from structure of L1 system

   /s, z/: Japanese, France French, German… /t, d/: Russian, Quebecois, Hungarian, Sinhalese… Cf. Ritchie 1968, Nemser 1971, Hancin-Bhatt 1994, Weinberger 1997 )

Actual facts: intra-lingual/individual variation in L1 and L2 acq

  multiple L1 substitutes for unfamiliar/difficult L2 sound (Hammarberg 1990)       Polish replacement of θ, ð by [s, z] [t, d] or [f, v] (Gussmann 1984:31) Japanese, German, and Turkish speakers vary in what they hear θ, ð as (Hancin Bhatt 1994) Calabrese uses f/v, whereas other Italians use t/d (Flege, Munro, and MacKay 1996) (cf. Cockney vs. New York; Archibald 1998:102) Unschooled French speakers use [t] (Berger 1951); beginners use [f], intermediate learners use [t] (Wenk 1979); Quebecois use [t], France uses [s] (Archibald 1998:102) Korean variation between tense [s'] and tense [t'] (think = ssink ~ ttink) (Oh 2002) Austrian learners of English vary between f ~ s ~ š ~ dental s ~ “lenisized” θ (Wieden 1997:232) Cf. L1:   English L1 acq θ  Grunwell 1982) θ  [f] in stages IV-VII; ð [f] ~ [s], e.g. Susie’s think   [d] or [v] in stages V-VII (Wenk 1979, sink ~ fink (Vihman and Greenlee 1987)

Conclusion

: ambiguity resolved by arbitrary choice (convention)

Variation is a problem for constraint demotion algorithms



“inconsistent data, such as variation in the ambient language, causes RCD to choke”

 McCarthy 2002:204-5    Cf. Hayes 2000

Intra-individual variability in L2 production

  Tropf 1987:174—multiple renditions of German nicht ‘not’ in a one-hour session with a Spanish speaker learning German: IS 31, I 25, ISt 4, Is 4, Ik 4, Et 2, IC 2, ICt 1, IZ 1 Similar findings in L1 acq Hayes’ alternative (strictness bands) predicts that only adjacent constraints can be involved in optionality  Problem: Pierrehumbert’s hovacity data

Dealing with coda [voice]



Overview



IL final devoicing as TETU?



L1 vs. L2 strategies for dealing with coda [voice]



Sources and mechanisms of devoicing



Devoicing as TETU?

From Uffmann 2004:     

2 guiding principles:

1.

2.

Initial state = L1 ranking L2 learners may also assume default M >> F

Ranking for lgs that don’t allow codas

 *Coda/voi, *Coda >> Faith

Ranking for lgs that allow contrastive voicing in codas

 Faith >> *Coda/voi, *Coda

Demotion of *Coda below Faith based on TL evidence

  *Coda/voi >> Faith >> *Coda [NB requires ignoring evidence for voiced codas] To get Hungarian-English phenomenon (IL devoicing despite both NL and TL having voice contrast in codas), Uffmann proposes L2 learners assume default M >> F until they receive evidence to the contrary  Problem: contravenes OT assumption that L2 learners start with L1 ranking (Pater 2005, etc.)

L1 vs. L2 strategies for coda [voice]

 

L1: claimed to only use devoicing

   The “too many solutions problem” (Lombardi 1995, Kager 1999, Steriade 2001, McCarthy 2002…)   Lombardi: MaxOns, *Lar, MaxVoi Steriade: P-map [McCarthy 2002: targeted constraints can get deletion repair, and therefore shouldn’t be part of OT] Kiparsky 2004: blocking also used (Konni, Meccan Arabic)

L2: epenthesis and deletion attested

 

Deletion

 Chinese: Anderson 1983, Xu 2004

Epenthesis

  Brazilian Portuguese: Major 1987; Korean: Kang 2003, Iverson and Lee 2004; Vietnamese: Nguyen and Ingram 2004; Chinese: Eckman 1981, Xu 2004 Also found in L1 acq (Major 2001)

Problems with OT analysis of final devoicing

   

L1 prediction doesn’t fall out nicely from constraint inventory; requires conspiracy of several constraints

   *Coda/voi-less system (Lombardi 2000, Beckman 2004) misses key articulatory motivation by avoiding (cf. Smith et al. 2005) Lombardi’s scheme should hold for NC as well, but doesn’t (Myers 2002) Lombardi can’t get word-initial neutralization, like in English and Lac Simon

L1 prediction falsified by L2 data Not clear why devoicing should be easier to learn than contrast L2 devoicing may not be emergent UG effect:

   English has devoicing (Haggard 1978, Ladefoged 1982, Pierrehumbert and Talkin 1992, Smith 1997) May be articulatory phonetic problem  “L2 speakers…may not have developed adequate voicing control abilities” (Smith et al. 2005) English-Hungarian case requires reversion to UG ranking, not hidden rankings

Levels

   Only low-level automatic L1 rules can cause interference (Linell 1979, Rubach 1980, 1984, Broselow 1984, Singh and Ford 1987, Eckman and Iverson 1995)  Morphologically-conditioned processes do not cause interference

Problem 1: Problem 2:

interference from processes treated as morphologically-conditioned in OT (McCarthy 1997, Steriade 2001, Picard 2002, Lombardi 2003)  incoherent in monostratal model r-insertion in RP pronunciation of L2 French, German, Spanish (Wells 1982)   J’étais déjà[r] ici, ich bin ja[r] fertig, viva[r] España n-insertion in Korean (H. Kim 1999)  [lukεnñuәsεlp h ] ‘look at yourself’

Cases where IL phenomenon



NL, TL

 

Cases where hidden rankings aren’t involved

    Idsardi’s 2002 spontaneous chain shift Hungarian-English final devoicing (?) Japanese antepenultimate mora accentuation (?) Hungarian gemination after stressed vowel (?)

Cases where novel marked configurations are produced, violating markedness hierarchy

   Russian č Odd neutralizations in L1 acq:  Child with dental click for all coronal continuants (Bedore et al. 1994)     Child with ingressives for all postvocalic stops (Gierut and Champion 2000) 4;8 subject, Jason, produces [pfw] “to represent nearly all word-initial liquid clusters, as well as initial labial fricatives” (Edwards 1996:153) Amahl’s word-initial engma and voiceless sonorants (Smith 1973:4) child with s in onset, x in coda (Gierut 1993) L2: Yuchun’s production of [ü] for [i] in English UG, phonology, etc.

 NB she doesn’t just do it after j

Learning unnatural patterns

 

CDA predicts that natural patterns will be easier to learn than unnatural ones, because they require fewer departures from UG ranking.

 Support from Pater’s 2005 study?

On the other hand, if learning involves formulating rules and their difficulty is computed on the basis of their formal structure, then unnatural patterns should be equally learnable.

 Supported in studies by Pycha et al. 2003, Morrison 2005, and Seidl & Buckley (forthcoming)

   

Conclusions

Classic OT predictions disconfirmed by SLP data

   

contra M/F-based learning:

NDEB, opacity, avoidance

contra Consistency:

variation, convention

contra No levels:

Level-based interference, Unnatural interference

contra Markedness:

Cases where IL phenomenon  NL, TL; Unnatural patterns not harder to learn

Universal markedness/UG plays a role in SLA

  final devoicing, cluster simplification… Not well captured in OT; SLA requires reference to UG system overridden by L1 and to phenomena not in L1/L2/UG-CON

Conversely, language allows a broader range of possibilities than is countenanced in OT

 strategies to deal with devoicing, unnatural rules…

Acquisition is generalization-driven and potentially variable

 supported by DEC effects, conventionalized segmental substitutions, which V to delete in hiatus, deneutralization…   Cf. Kiparsky and Menn’s 1977 model, which involves active hypothesis formation and testing on the part of the child, and Fey and Gandour 1979, vs. Stampe’s and OT’s, which are closer to behaviorist stimulus-response For variation, cf. Macken and Ferguson’s flexible learning model that allows for variation, contrary to earlier deterministic models that had predictable L1  L2 transfer

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